Lashes Advances in North Adams Softball League Tourney

iBerkshires.com Sports09:38AM / Wednesday, August 19, 2026Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Logan Stansfield went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly on Tuesday to lead Belle Ame Lashes to a 17-15 win and a spot in the finals of the North Adams Women’s Softball League playoffs.

Melissa Girard was 3-for-4 with a double, and Leanne Davis was 3-for-4 at the plate in a win over top-seeded Alternative Living Centers in the final game of the double-elimination tournament’s winners bracket.

ALC will play again Thursday evening at Disanti Field against the winner of Wednesday’s loser’s bracket game between Tower Electric and NAFD/NAPD for a berth in Monday’s championship game.

On Tuesday, Lashes jumped on top with five runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed.

Ashton Smead hit a two-run single, and Jocelyn Duhamel and Girard each doubled in the opening rally.

ALC answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, and the teams combined for 18 runs in the first three innings.

ALC got within a run when it scored four in the bottom of the second to make it 8-7. Dar Fagley, Paulina Perris and Renee Royal got that rally started with consecutive singles.

But pitchers Sarah Sweet of Lashes and Jaycee Blenke of ALC and their defenses quieted the bats through the middle innings.

Each team turned a double play in the fifth.

In the top of the inning, ALC retired Ashlee Bradley on a sacrifice fly and caught a runner attempting to advance to third on the same play.

In the bottom, Lashes second baseman Leanne Davis and shortstop Stansfield turned a 4-6-3 twin killing.

Lashes went to the seventh inning with a 16-12 lead.

It picked up an insurance run when Stansfield reached on a one-out single, moved to third on Breeze Breault’s pinch-hit single to left and scored when Bradley reached on a fielder’s choice.

ALC, which played uphill all night, had one more rally left in it.

With two out and nobody on, the designated home team got five straight hits, including an RBI double from Horton.

But Sweet was able to get a fly ball out to center to leave runners at the corners and preserve the two-run win.

Photos from this game here.

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Veteran Spotlight: Coast Guard Capt. Thurman 'Tom' Maine

By Wayne SoaresSpecial to iBerkshires
04:42PM / Sunday, September 13, 2026

MASHPEE, Mass. — If I were to describe the best attributes of this week's veteran, they would be an infectious personality, role model, leader, wonderful family man and a person that leads by example in the very best way.

The aforementioned, are the primary reasons why Thurman "Tom" Maine enjoyed a successful and distinguished military career in the Coast Guard from 1983 to 2014.

Born in North Stonington, Conn., Maine entered the Coast Guard at the age of 21 and was sent to boot camp in Cape May, N.J. His first assignment was at Coast Guard Station in Provincetown, R.I. From 1994 to 1997, he was a helicopter pilot for Coast Guard Air Station at Otis Air National Guard Base and was elevated to operations officer, chief pilot at the base from 2004 to 2007.

During his 31-year career, Maine flew some of the Coast Guard's most elite helicopters; the Sikorsky H-3 (the Coast Guard's last amphibious aircraft), the Sikorsky H-60 (the most widely flown military helicopter in the world) and the H-65 (a smaller, faster helicopter that deploys on ships).

Maine continued to rapidly climb the ranks and in 2009 was promoted as the Coast Guard's liason to the Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, a position he held until 2011. Following that assignment, he was promoted to captain and rose to be the commanding officer at the Coast Guard's prestigious Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Ala.

During his tenure as commanding officer, he suffered a devastating blow when four Guardsman were killed during a night training exercise. He conveyed that his greatest achievement in his entire military career, was the leadership he provided

to his 600-member unit and the families of the fallen Guardsmen, by always being accessible, communicating constantly and holding vitally important family nights.

He said this tragedy, "gave him the ultimate opportunity to live out his faith." He also lobbied intensely for the student pilot who was killed to be awarded his designation posthumously, which he did.

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